Leerink Partners Cuts Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) Price Target to $27.00

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) had its price target lowered by Leerink Partners from $31.00 to $27.00 in a report released on Thursday. Leerink Partners currently has an underweight rating on the stock.

MRNA has been the topic of several other research reports. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $41.00 target price on shares of Moderna in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. Barclays decreased their target price on Moderna from $125.00 to $111.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 8th. Berenberg Bank lifted their target price on Moderna from $33.00 to $42.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Piper Sandler restated an “overweight” rating and set a $69.00 price target (down previously from $115.00) on shares of Moderna in a report on Monday, November 18th. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on Moderna in a report on Friday, November 15th. They set an “underperform” rating and a $40.00 price target for the company. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, thirteen have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.58.

Moderna Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of NASDAQ:MRNA opened at $34.06 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $13.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -5.85 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a quick ratio of 4.20 and a current ratio of 4.39. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $40.85 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $66.40. Moderna has a 52-week low of $31.94 and a 52-week high of $170.47.

Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, November 7th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($1.89) by $1.92. Moderna had a negative return on equity of 17.68% and a negative net margin of 43.77%. The firm had revenue of $1.90 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.25 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($1.39) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Moderna will post -9.3 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, insider Shannon Thyme Klinger sold 1,418 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, November 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $42.79, for a total transaction of $60,676.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 19,717 shares in the company, valued at $843,690.43. This trade represents a 6.71 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In the last three months, insiders sold 2,664 shares of company stock valued at $115,210. Company insiders own 15.20% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Moderna

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of MRNA. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB lifted its holdings in Moderna by 58.2% in the fourth quarter. MassMutual Private Wealth & Trust FSB now owns 1,057 shares of the company’s stock worth $44,000 after acquiring an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in Moderna by 365.6% during the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 731 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,000 after purchasing an additional 574 shares in the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its holdings in Moderna by 53.5% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 910 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 317 shares in the last quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. raised its holdings in Moderna by 477.3% during the third quarter. Rakuten Securities Inc. now owns 941 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 778 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Itau Unibanco Holding S.A. bought a new stake in Moderna during the second quarter worth approximately $75,000. 75.33% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Moderna

Moderna, Inc, a biotechnology company, discovers, develops, and commercializes messenger RNA therapeutics and vaccines for the treatment of infectious diseases, immuno-oncology, rare diseases, autoimmune, and cardiovascular diseases in the United States, Europe, and internationally. Its respiratory vaccines include COVID-19, influenza, and respiratory syncytial virus, spikevax, and hMPV/PIV3 vaccines; latent vaccines comprise cytomegalovirus, epstein-barr virus, herpes simplex virus, varicella zoster virus, and human immunodeficiency virus vaccines; public health vaccines consists of Zika, Nipah, Mpox vaccines; and infectious diseases vaccines, such as lyme and norovirus vaccines.